365 Nights of Astronomy

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The Best Night Sky Highlights for November

November is just beginning and there a number of night sky highlights that can be easily seen throughout the month. (Click on any of the images to enlarge them.)

November 3rd, 5:45am

First off, we have the last in the series of pre-dawn planetary conjunctions that have wowed the world. This time, it’s between brilliant Venus and fainter Mars. The pair have been drawing closer together over the past few days but they’ll be at their closest in the pre-dawn sky on the 3rd.

November 6th, 5:45am

November 7th, 5:45am

November 8th, 5:45am

A few days later the waning crescent Moon begins to approach the planets. It passes Regulus, the brightest star in Leo on the 5th and then passes Jupiter the next morning. Mars and Venus take their turns on the 7th while Earthshine illuminates the Moon on the 8th.

November 14th, 6:15pm

If you miss the Moon that morning, you can witness Earthshine again on the 14th. By this time the Moon has turned new and has moved into the evening sky. On that evening, it’ll be a waxing crescent and can be found among the stars of Sagittarius. Northern hemisphere observers should be able to see it over the southwestern horizon after sunset.

November 18th, 1:00am

Lastly, November is home to one of the year’s better meteor showers, the Leonids. These are at their best in the early hours of the 17th, which, unfortunately, is a Tuesday this year. On the plus side, the Moon is still in its crescent phase so if you’re able to stay up late, the Moon won’t be posing any problems. (And even if you can’t stay up til the early hours, it’s still worth a look!) This year is not predicted to be a spectacular event but you should still see up to fifteen shooting stars every hour from a dark sky location.

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